It’s 7 years since Northern Beaches Council was formed after the amalgamation of Manly, Pittwater and Warringah Councils. A poll taken prior to amalgamation showed 89% of Pittwater residents opposed the idea. Despite this, the democratic process was ignored by the then government and a forced amalgamation took place in May 2016.
Presently the area covered by Northern Beaches Council goes from Palm Beach to the north; Kuring-Gai National Park to the west; and Manly and The Spit Bridge in the south. It is the fourth largest council in NSW and the third most complained about. (NSW Annual Ombudsman’s report 2021-2022)
Since the forced amalgamation groups of residents have continued to fight for the de-merger of Pittwater from the behemoth that is NBC.
Pittwater is an unique environment with very different needs and wants to the areas south of Narrabeen Bridge and although there is no reason why an amalgamated council cannot serve those differences, the latest proposed Local Environmental Plan seems to indicate not.
De-Amalgamation Protests at Parliament house
BaysNews spoke to Sue Young, former Pittwater councillor and now an active member of the Protect Pittwater Association. Sue believes that what protected Pittwater from over-development was the Environmental Zones put in place by Pittwater Council in 2014. Under the latest Northern Beaches Council Conservation Zones review, these “Environmental Zones” are now called Conservation Zones and “over 3000 of these zones are proposed to become residential zones without Council defining what a residential zone is”. Sue maintains that “once you go from a Conservation Zone to a Residential, you can develop a lot more.” Her concern is “if we lose our Conservation Zones, then they (Council and the State Government) are the ultimate decision makers and they can allow more building in the residential zones.”
Sue feels that there is a lack of representation for Pittwater in NBC. “Technically 3 councillors out of 15 represent Pittwater Ward. Previously there were 9 councillors representing the 3 wards that were Pittwater.” This means that if there is something specific to the community that needs to be voted on, representation for Pittwater is in the minority. Sue maintains we have lost our voice. Another significant change is that Pittwater Council, when it was last operating, none of the Councillors belonged to a political party, now NBC is dominated by two political parties – the Liberal Party with 5 and Your Northern Beaches Party with 6.
Protect Pittwater and Demerge NSW members at Avalon on Saturday March 4, 2023. Photo: Pittwater Online News
When there were talks prior to the merger, those supporting it claimed that there was no reason that individual areas (3 Wards) within Council would lose their local character. Now with a larger council with 5 wards and less Councillors speaking for Pittwater, this promised emphasis on local character has not come about and the risk is a cookie-cutter approach by Council to the various issues. Sue makes the point that the character of the area, inherent in the original Pittwater Mission Statement – “a series of villages connected by beach, bush and water” has been lost. “With a smaller Council there was a greater sense of community, Council was more accessible and more agile.”
The other virtue of a larger Council has been the promised economies of scale – a term that has been somewhat of a mantra as far as underpinning increased efficiency. But this is not always true. There has been enough evidence to show that once an organisation gets too big, economies of scale fail to materialise. Council maintains there have been significant savings delivered by the merger however, Sue argues that economies of scale already existed previously with Pittwater Council working together with Warringah, Mosman and Manly putting out tenders for services which resulted in achieving competitive pricing.
One glaring example of “losing our voice” is when the former state government was presented with a petition by Protect Pittwater Association with over 3,000 signatures, it languished for 15 months and then the government said it needed more signatories based on a percentage figure that included all of the area covered by Northern Beaches Council which, when you do the maths, means a minimum of 18,464 signatures. As Sue says “Obviously this is a high bar for a community organisation to get that many signatures and bear in mind that the Minister for Local Government can still reject the application using Ministerial discretion. …. what we need is new legislation to allow communities to vote and for it to be binding.”
The other frustration is that Council can vote to allow residents to conduct a poll but is it realistic to expect those advocating within Council to disallow the de-merger when they have affiliations via political parties that place their interests elsewhere?
Sue says “Since amalgamation people feel that it can’t be unwound but in fact it can. For example, there has been ministerial approval for a Council de-merger in Cootamundra/Gundagai where merged Councils have been seen to fail the residents.”
Northern Beaches Mayor Sue Heins categorically ruled out any move to split, saying it was “off the cards”.
Article by Pru colville
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